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While the cloud cover certainly materialized, it did not bring about the kind of fishing we hoped for yesterday, at least on the West Branch. There were smatterings of bugs, but no truly great hatches, and even the sub-surface bite was off as well – all likely a result of the flows being pumped up, which happened again last night, albeit by a tiny amount. Hopefully it will remain steady at that level, and the fish/bugs are not too disturbed by it. We have another cooler, cloudier day forecast that should encourage all off our winged and finned aquatic friends to play nice today! Also, today is the last day of the season to fish from Deposit down to Monument Pool – it closes tomorrow! All the border waters from there downstream, as well as the Lower East Branch will remain open, leaving us plenty of water to stalk!

A colorful WB Brown caught by Chris Fielding. They are all getting to look like this! Photo by: George Fielding

What a beautiful day we had here yesterday…..if you’re anyone other than a fisherman! Bright, warm sun made for fantastic foliage viewing, but definitely depressed the bugs and fish until it started to head behind the hills. Very little was happening on the Main and East, but good flurries of hatches were seen on the West Branch, primarily pseudos, but with some stenos and the occasional iso thrown in for good measure. Today we again have the ambiguous forecast of “clouds and sun,” albeit with slightly cooler temps, in the mid-60s. IF those clouds do materialize, and with the bump in flow from Cannonsville, we could be seeing a productive day.

A newly-molted Steno spinner with its shuck. Go out and get the fish working! Photo by: Jeff White

My disdain for weathermen hit an all-time high yesterday. Or perhaps they have just changed the meaning of “mostly cloudy and calm” to “bright, beautiful cloudless skies with stiff breezes at times,” as that was what happened with the weather yesterday. Despite this, there was some insect activity during the bright part of the day, and there were some fish active on nymphs on the Main Stem and lower West. Definitely not the banner day we were looking for, that much is for sure. Today’s forecast is at least ambiguous, with the mysterious “Sun and Clouds” being the witchdoctors’ call. Our flow has been increased by a teaspoon to 314 CFS, which will hopefully continue to go up as Montague drops (they need to maintain 1,750 cfs down there). Otherwise, I just plan to wait and see what happens today. Regardless of the weather, at some point we will see our little winged friends show up, and hopefully the fish as well.

A bit better out there yesterday for some, but there was definitely a dearth of bugs for others. The hatches definitely started later in the day, but also continued a bit longer into evening than they have been as of late, shutting down gradually from 6:30 on, instead of the “lightswitch” effect we’ve been having around 6 lately. The bugs themselves were the same – Isos, Hebes, Stenos, and Pseudos, with the fish focusing mostly on the first and last of that list. Today, we’re looking at mostly cloudy skies, with calm winds, and temps around 70. Constant pressure should also help to get the fish and bugs active, making for a good Saturday!

Ken House with a CHUNK of a brown – built more like a shad! Photo by: Jeff White

Sometimes, the fish are just bastards. With cloudy, misty skies and nice cooler temps, we actually had what we hoped for yesterday afternoon – bugs! Good numbers of Psuedos, Hebes, and even a decent flush or two of Isos came down the pipe. The fish were rising from about 3 o’clock on, but I am still trying to find someone who figured out what the heck they were eating. Early on, a few would take Iso duns or emergers, but that quickly ceased, and the mystery rises began. Pseudos going untouched, then an immediate sub-surface rise right afterwards. Emergers, wets, spinners – the didn’t want any of it. Sometimes I guess the river just needs to take you to school. We are expecting a similar day today, but with warmer temps predicted. I would predict we’ll see some of the same action timing-wise – let’s just hope the fish decide they want to cooperate a bit more!

A few of these were actually hatching as well, but the fish ignored them too. Photo by: Jeff White

Mixed bag on the water yesterday, depending on where you were fishing. The West had mediocre bug activity, but fish that were definitely hungry, and eager to eat. Occasional risers could be caught if cast to, taking our favorite – Iso duns. The Main was pretty quiet all afternoon, with very little hatching activity to speak of, and even fewer fish up and about. As the temp dropped yesterday evening, pretty much all activity ceased – light switch style. Today we are looking a cool, cloudy day with passing showers here and there. The lower air pressure should get some of the fish up and moving again on the Main, and will hopefully encourage more fish on the West to show themselves as well!

Hey! We found a way to get Bruce to smile for the camera! Land a MONSTER Rainbow! Photo: Joe DeSole

Not too bad out there yesterday. It was definitely a pool-by-pool scenario, with certain areas fishing well, and others pretty quiet. The wind definitely pushed bugs back to the vegetation when it was up, but once the sun dropped down, it allowed for some pretty decent spinner action, along with decent duns popping off as well. Today, we’ve got more clouds in the forecast which is always a boon, with temps in the mid-60s. If the pressure remains constant we should see a repeat of yesterday’s hatching, but hopefully this time with a few more fish poking their heads up and looking for food!

Plenty of Stenos were showing up yesterday as well! Both duns and spinners. Photo: Bart Larmouth

They definitely made a mountain out of a mole hill – at least as far as the “huge rain” that was predicted for yesterday. Even the hours of heavy winds predicted amounted to about a half hour around mid-day. We did get a decent dousing, but the ground certainly soaked up much of it. The West Branch did get a bit on the muddy side towards evening, but has cleared already, and is starting to drop again. The Beaverkill /East Branch peaked late last night, and have finally started to fall, and it is likely starting to clear already this morning. Today we’ve got a cooler day on par, with Mostly sunny skies predicted. With all the flux in the weather recently, it’s a crapshoot as to what will happen out there today, but there is only one way to find out – get out and fish!

Almost to scale (kidding) – size 8-2XL caddis – Platycentropis radius. There are plenty of these guys around now, sometimes called “October Caddis” – but unfortunately you won’t find many fish eating them as they live and hatch in the slow outer reaches of the river. Photo by: Jeff White

While not gangbusters, yesterday was a marked improvement over Saturday, that much is for sure! There were bugs and rising fish sporadically throughout the day, but they were not uber-picky, and definitely could be caught. The big news of the morning is NYC DEP’s lovely move of dropping us from a 1010 cfs release down to a 244 cfs – WITHOUT stepping/ramping it down. Let’s just hope that the Browns had not started to make redds yet, and that not too many bugs moved to shore to hatch in the last week or so. This yo-yoing is the one of worst thing that they can do to the river, and who knows how the fishing will be affected today. We do have heavy rain in the forecast, and the ground is fairly saturated, so let’s hope that we get plastered, and get the flows back up again quickly.

Not that we will be streamer fishing again anytime soon, but here is a crazy photo that shows a way to catch a caddis – still in the case! Photo: Bart Larmouth

Every time you have a tough day on the river, there is always a saving grace – when everyone else does as well. This was definitely the case yesterday. Despite “perfect” weather conditions for dry fly fishing, there was very little surface action at all, despite times of HEAVY clouds of pseudo spinners taking up the air – so much that you needed to keep your mouth closed at times. Folks on the West definitely moved fish on streamers, and some limited activity on nymphs, but overall quite a slow day. Today could be a game changer, with even more cloud cover than yesterday (the sun popped out way more than was predicted), as well as scattered rain and thunderstorms, these low pressure systems will hopefully get the fish and bugs up and moving!

What a difference a little cloud cover and precipitation can make! The fish were definitely more active yesterday, and sections of the West and Main had very good hatches later in the afternoon. The only downer was the wicked thunderstorm that rolled through the area right around that time, forcing many to get off the river. We had more ground strikes than I have seen in a long time, including a car right in front of the club (everyone was fine)! A good time to lean on the old adage, “discretion is the better part of valor.” Today we are looking at clouds pretty much throughout the day, very little wind, and a chance of some showers here and there, no thunderstorms predicted fortunately. This should allow those who are heading out to take full advantage of the bugs that should come with a day like this!

Mark Sheivachman with a NICE main stem brown taken yesterday before the thunder. Photo: Bruce Miller

A little better on the dry fly action in the evening last night, depending on where you were fishing. There were plenty of spinners in the air river-wide, but they decided not to bother coming down until right before dark for most folks. I choose poorly and did not have that luck. The streamer bite was also a bit slower than it has been lately, likely due to the bright sun (and beautiful day in general). The good news is that we have clouds and rain in the forecast (at least in limited amounts) over the next few days. The additional cover should get the fish to start looking up some more, and will definitely encourage those lazy spinners to get to business and hit the water!